Barry Wouldn't it be lovely to get your hands on those letters but unfortunately if they were not claimed they were sent back to sender or distroyed, many may have even been claimed. The one I found gave me a timeframe of when my ancestor came to Vic and another place he went to so even without the letter it added to my information. Carmel -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of B.Howard Sent: Sunday, 14 September, 2008 4:43 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [AUS-MELBOURNE] Unclaimed letters Hello list folk, I've just spent a quiet Sunday afternoon browsing through an online Australian Historical Newspaper website and have noticed that in those early Colonial days the papers would run a column advertising lists of all the "unclaimed letters" at the General Post Office. The Melboune newspapers did the same, but in the Sydney Gazette of Saturday 11 December 1841 there is an unclaimed letter in the name of "Mrs Howard, late of Parson's Town" So I got to thinking could this be one of my Irish ggg/grandmother?, because my Catherine Howard was married at Birr, (aka Parsontown) in King's Co. Ireland in April 1841 . She and her husband John emigrated from Ireland to Port Phillip in July, 1841. Yes, I know it is a really long, longshot, but it got me wondering as to what happened to all those unclaimed letters held by the Post Office over all those colonial years? Were they all eventually destroyed, or do they still exist somewhere in the bowels of the Australian Post Office or some other obscure Government building? Would it not be a wonderful thing to get your hands on a letter that was sent to your ancestor all those years ago? I know, It's all just wishful thinking , but I'd be interested to learn what others have to say about this subject. Any post office officials out there? Regards, Barry Howard, Victoria, Australia. ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Hello Carmel and Margaret, Margaret wrote ...."Alas, the index is all that remains of those unclaimed letters." Well, that's a crying shame, but I did say it was all just wishful thinking. Thanks for the comments. Cheers, Barry Howard, Victoria, Australia. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Carmel M Reynen" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, September 14, 2008 5:06 PM Subject: Re: [AUS-MELBOURNE] Unclaimed letters > Barry > Wouldn't it be lovely to get your hands on those letters but unfortunately > if they were not claimed they were sent back to sender or distroyed, many > may have even been claimed. The one I found gave me a timeframe of when my > ancestor came to Vic and another place he went to so even without the > letter > it added to my information. > Carmel